5 questions for Peter Lavelle: Saving the new Cold War
Peter Lavelle Aug 08, 2016 Question: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited Moscow. It is reported there were marathon talks on the situation in Syria. Later both sides admitted the talks amounted to nothing – a complete failure. You and others predicted this. So what was the point? Answer: Nominally speaking the agenda centered on how Washington and Moscow could enhance cooperation to resolve the conflict in Syria. That was the official line. But in reality Kerry had a two-track ploy. First, try still again to convince the Russians to abandon the legal and legitimate government in Syria (“Assad must go”). This approach also included the Russians assuming a subordinate role – including militarily – to Washington’s efforts in Syria. Of course all this is a non-starter with Moscow. Syria’s Assad is on the offensive and winning ground. Second, Kerry was in Moscow to stall for time. Barack Obama and Kerry may or may not want to end the proxy war in Syria, but it is clear the Washington foreign policy establishment (read: neocons) and thinktankistan (read: neocons) have no interest in ending this conflict. Quite the contrary, the war in Syria serves a number of connected foreign policy goals – and this has everything to do with the U.S. presidential election. Q.: You said Kerry is stalling for time. What is the plan? What is in...
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